The Olympics draw together fans from around the globe to cheer on their fellow citizens, and having such a diverse group of people in one spot can inspire companies to experiment with cutting-edge technologies.

The increasing adoption of virtual card payments by accounts payable departments has created an unex­pected complication for suppliers: more friction in the processing, posting and reconciliation of payments and receivables. The root of the problem is that most suppliers rely on a manual approach to processing e-mailed virtual card payments. Suppliers are forced to balance their organization’s need for operational efficiency and control with rising customer demand to pay with a virtual card. But a new breed of tech­nology enables suppliers to process virtual card payments straight-through, addressing the needs of buyers and suppliers. This paper details the growth of electronic business-to-business (B2B) payments, shows how manual approaches to processing virtual card payments cause friction in accounts receivables, describes a way to process virtual card payments straight-through, and highlights the benefits of friction­less payments.

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Grocery has been in Amazon’s sites for years. It’s very appealing because shopping volume and frequency is high, but the margins are low, and the logistics are difficult because of spoilage, writes Tom Caporaso, CEO of Clarus Commerce.

It’s critical that retailers tailor their marketing campaigns to the evolving shopping behaviors of consumers, including catering to their tendency to wait until the last minute, writes Dani Cushion, chief marketing officer at Cardlytics.

The cashless society is no longer just a feast for the 527 million Chinese mobile payment users, but to anyone with a solid digital footprint, according to Franklin Chu, managing director for Azoya USA.

The Latest

The card activation process is relatively low-tech, but since its introduction nearly three decades ago it has been hugely effective in preventing credit cards from falling into the wrong hands. Among its pioneers was Ash Gupta, American Express’ president of global credit risk, who is retiring next month.

A sophisticated campaign by Russian actors seeking to manipulate the 2016 U.S. presidential election through social media included stealing the identities of Americans and using accounts at PayPal to aid their effort.

Many large European banks are developing their own services to comply with the data-sharing requirements of PSD2, but thousands of smaller and midsize organizations will need help, seeding the growth of startups specializing in open banking tools.

In Pictures

The Olympics draw together fans from around the globe to cheer on their fellow citizens, and having such a diverse group of people in one spot can inspire companies to experiment with cutting-edge technologies.

There’s a widely held belief that clamping down on fraud in one area will lead to it popping up somewhere else. There is some truth to this — fraudsters favor the points of least resistance. But there are also major exceptions.

Even today, as mobile and e-commerce payment options flood the market, few companies are willing to do away with cash acceptance. But a handful of brands have launched cashless locations, taking a bold step into a future where cash is no longer king.